Ed's Articles -

DOE Report Shows Shift to Energy-Efficient Ligh...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:55:11 +0000

The new report updates a similar DOE model
. . . of the 2001 U.S. lighting market inventory.
During the intervening decade, 2 trends emerged.
. . . First, there is push toward energy-saving lighting.
. . . Second, there is a continued increase in the demand for lighting,
. . . with most of the growth occurring in the residential sector,
. . . primarily because of an increase in the number of households,
. . . which increased from under 107 million in 2001
. . . to more than 113 million in 2010.

The study shows that, in 2010,
. . . lighting used roughly 700 terawatt-hours (TWh),
. . . or almost 19% of electricity produced in the United States.
The commercial sector accounted for almost 1/2 of total energy used for lighting,
. . . even with 4 billion fewer light bulbs installed than the residential sector.

The average system efficacy of installed lighting increased from
. . . 45 lumens per watt in 2001 to
. . . 58 lumens per watt in 2010,
. . . due mainly to a move from incandescent to compact fluorescent lamps
. . . in the residential sector, and from
. . . T12 to more-efficient T8 and T5 fluorescent lamps
. . . in the commercial and industrial sectors.

Source: cleantechnica

Hexaformer transformer

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:01:07 +0000

Warner Power officially opened its Hollis, NH plant Tuesday,
. . . where employees will build Hexaformers, a new,
. . . highly efficient type of electrical transformer.
Hexaformer AB founder Magnus Palmstierna says
. . . it has the potential to revolutionize the power industry.

Typical transformers, which are ubiquitous in everything from
. . . . . . the nation’s power distribution network to
. . . . . . homes,
. . . . . . factories and more,
. . . have square cores containing hundreds of components.

Hexaformer cores are made of continuous coils of steel bands wiring
. . . in a hexagon form – hence the name – which leads to
. . . the greatly increased efficiency, Palmstierna said.

More efficient transformers means money is saved.
. . . Studies have shown that transformers lose as much as
. . . 5% of the electricity generated in the United States.

Warner Power says that a wide-scale use of Hexaformers could eliminate
. . . 1.5% of that loss, saving
. . . 60 terawatts of electricity annually.

Warner Power builds transformers for industrial use,
. . . but the technology applied to the wider distribution network
. . . could save as much as $2.2 billion in energy costs,
. . . according to the company.

“The long-term goal is distribution because that’s where the big volume is,”
. . . said Peter Amos, the company’s senior vice president.
. . . “That’s a big marketplace.”

Hexaformer AB, the Sweden-based owner of the technology,
. . . is more involved in that industry, Palmstierna said.
Warner Power buys a license from Hexaformer AB to make and
. . . sell the transformers here and sell them to their own customers.

Hexaformers patented technology enables the manufacturing of closed symmetrical delta shaped transformer cores. Hexaformer claims, that conventional transformers are manufactured through time consuming cutting and stacking of electric steel into an E-shaped form (with larger waste material). Hexaformers transformer core creates value add to the energy utilities by increasing cross-margins with more effective transformers which decrease energy losses by 10 - 15 % compared to conventional E-types as well as lowering CAPEX costs by 25 - 30 % with less usage of raw material (2/3 of user price for transformers is based on raw material). By decreasing electric steel and copper need in manufacturing, we talk also about the environmental impacts, said CFOMattias Klintemar last week on phone.

Source: hexaformer1 . . . hexaformer2

Central America’s Largest Wind Farm comes Online

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:05:05 +0000

Gamesa and Iberdrola Renewables have brought the
. . . 102-MW Cerro de Hula wind farm in Honduras online,
. . . will boost Honduran electricity generation capacity by 10%.

With a $200-million investment, it took just over one year to build,
. . . a total of 51 Gamesa G87 2-MW wind turbines are now up and running,
. . . Honduras’ state-owned grid operator Empresa Nacional de Energia Electrica
. . . . . . will take up and distribute Cerro de Hula’s electricity output
. . . . . . under the terms of a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA).

Holland has a lot of windmills, both old and new.

There is evidence that wind energy was used to propel boats along the Nile as early as 5000BC.
The earliest known windmills were in Persia (Iran) and looked like large paddle wheels.
In 200BC people in China and the Middle East used windmills to pump water and grind grain
The largest wind turbine in the world is in Hawaii. It stands 20 storeys high and has rotors the length of a football field.
The UK is the windiest country in Europe.
Wind is the fastest growing energy source worldwide.
An average wind speed of 14mph is required to convert wind energy into electricity.

Source: cleantechnica

Small garden Ideas

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:10:12 +0000

Garden landscaping often comes out as a challenge,
. . . especially when you are planning to grow
. . . some exquisite flowers and plants in a limited gardening space.

A big gardening space works wonders for designing your garden more intricately,
. . . but having little space or no space
. . . should not act as a constraint to a passionate gardener.
If you plan it right, you can make an evergreen garden
. . . out of a super small yard space
. . . or even a narrow strip of sideways gravels.
From incredible container garden to beautiful patio garden,
. .. here are some scintillating garden design ideas
. . . to welcome some greenery in your house.

Source: designbuzz

GREEN APPLE

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:43:56 +0000

Apple’s efforts to make its data center as energy efficient as possible
. . . will go a long way in ensuring that power is conserved.
. . . The center has also earned LEED certification.
Apple is building in Maiden, North Carolina:
. . . 20MW solar installation situated on 100 acres of land
. . . . . . will be capable of supplying energy worth 42 million kilowatt hours annually.
. . . 5MW fuel cell installation to help power the data center.
When completed, the installation will run on 100 percent biogas as well as provide
. . . 40 million kilowatt hours of energy every year.
. . . A white cool roof to reflect sunlight,
. . . A chilled water storage system that will transfer 10,400 kWh of power
. . . . . . from peak hours to off peak hours daily.
. . . . . . Also it will funnel outside air at night and during cold weather.
. . . . . . The use of the water system and the funneled air,
. . . . . . will allow the chillers to be switched off for more than 75% of the time.
. . . LED lights are equipped with motion sensors and
. . . . . . they too help in cutting down on power use.

Source: ecofriend

Green Jobs in Germany

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:38:53 +0000

By 2021, Germany will have :
. . . 8,700 megawatts of offshore wind power capacity, producing
. . . 33,000 jobs in the offshore wind power sector, causing revenue to grow
. . . 16.5 billion euros a decade from now,
. . . 90% of the added value will come from small and midsize companies and
. . . that does not even include revenue from the sale of offshore wind power.”

Japanese researchers are developing a hybrid offshore generator platform to
. . . harvest ocean energy,
. . . wind turbines and
. . . solar arrays.

Wind Lens turbine has already been tested in the Chinese desert.
The 3.6 kilowatt turbines on an 18-meter floating, semi-submersible platform
. . . put into the water in the fall of 2011 in Hakata Bay
. . . to test their suitability in local wind and wave conditions.
. . . Furthermore, the researchers want to see how the turbines and
. . . the platform hold up in saltwater.

Stage 1: Shaped as a hexagon, the platforms can be locked into each other
. . . to provide a uniform single structure that can be expanded.
Stage 2: 60 meters across platform installed 2 kilometers off the coast,
. . . 100 kilowatt wind turbines installed on top.
Stage 3: 150 meters across platform 2-megawatt wind turbines.
. . . Part of the remaining space between the turbines atop the platform
. . . can then be used to harvest solar energy, making the hexagon a harvester of
. . . wind, ocean, and solar energy.

Source: Clean Technica . . . renewablesinternational

Solar Tea Cart

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:57:29 +0000

In cities throughout India,
. . . street vending is a way of life,

. . . with many street-food carts (called Thattukada's) that burn fossil fuels.

Christopher Gregory of Bent Harbor, Michigan, has a vision
. . . to reduce Thattukada's carbon footprint, using solar energy to heat water.

This concept design, is the addition of a low-tech hot water system to the carts.
. . . Composed of
. . . . . . copper water coil,
. . . . . . rubber gasket,
. . . . . . coated aluminum liner,
. . . . . . fiberglass insulation,
. . . . . . ABS plastic shell–protected by glass and
. . . . . . supported by a layer of corrugated sheet metal.

To produce hot water, the vendor simply
. . . . . . pumps in cold water and
. . . . . . adjusts the solar thermal system, via 4 attached cords,
. . . . .. .to pick up the best angle of the sun.
After the water has been heated,
. . . it is delivered to a stovetop set-up via black plastic tubing,
. . . where it can be used to keep hot foods hot, via a double broiler,
. . . or directly for hot beverages, such as tea.

The Sun Thattukada provides street vendors with a sustainable alternative
. . . to heating their beverages, such as tea,

This project was the result of a year-long class with MBA students and
. . . a trip to India to refine the design:
. . . . . . which saves money for fuel,
. . . . . . is simple and convient to operated and maintain,
. . . . . . Multifunctional for cooking and keeping,
. . . . . . . . . both food and beverages hot, and
. . . . . . reduce's Thattukada's carbon footprints.

Source: Cart1 . . . Cart2

New Utility-Scale Solar PV Inverter Technology...

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:44:35 +0000

“A new inverter technology
. . . allows inverters to act as phase-shift oscillators,
. . . thereby providing the grid with reactive power from solar plants even overnight
. . . and lowering the cost of grid expansion considerably in the process,”
. . . Heiko Schwarzburger and Craig Morris of Renewables International write.

This gives another boost to utility-scale solar
. . . as a key ingredient in the quick, reliable, and efficient switch
. . . to a 100%-renewable energy economy.

The German grid is broken up into 4 levels.
. . . Ultra high-voltage lines have at least 380 kilovolts and
. . . high-voltage lines at least 110, whereas
. . . medium-voltage lines that regionally distribute power have 20 kilovolts – and
. . . local distribution grids have 400 volts and 3 phases.

If too much energy is exported to the grid,
. . . the voltage increases along with frequency.
. . . Lines then began to overheat, and
. . . grid operators provide additional reactive power from central plants.
Unfortunately, Germany has less reactive power in the south
. . . now that so many nuclear plants have been shut off there.

“But utility-scale solar can do the job,” Beck says.
. . . “A solar farm with hundreds of megawatts
. . . can produce enough reactive power
. . . to offset the grid-stabilizing effect of a nuclear plant.”

The new inverter function with software from SMA
. . . can also be used in inverters for wind turbines.
But small inverters for rooftop arrays cannot perform this function
. . . because the equipment would be too expensive.

Germany has a growing share of solar power, wind power, and power from biomass.
But increasingly, reactive power – not real power
. . . is turning out to be the bottleneck when it comes to stabilizing the grid.
“If a large solar plant in Bavaria produces reactive power,
. . . ultra high-voltage lines to the North Sea
. . . might even be able to be utilized better,” Beck surmises.
“In our estimation, it would then only cost half as much to expand the grid”
. . . because local reactive power and high-temperature cables
. . . would mean that the amount of power on the grid
. . . could be tripled without having to build a single new pylon.

Phases of power shift when the 3 phases go out of sync.
. . . By pushing the 3 phases back into rhythm,
. . . the grid can take up much more power. As Beck explains,
“During the day, the solar array affects the phase shift via the energy it produces.
. . . At night or when the sky is cloudy,
. . . it then takes some of the real power off the grid and
. . . puts back a much larger phase shift with very low losses.”

Source: Clean Technica

Electric cars: Fully Charged 2012 announcement

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:08:31 +0000

Announcing the upcoming series of Fully Charged,
. . . looking at the future of energy and
. . . the amazing new electric cars coming onto the market this year.
http://www.youtube.c...w?feature=watch

Electric Bike design

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:34:57 +0000

This Electric vehicle's batteries can be charged from 3 sources:
. . . . . . Pedaling,
. . . . . . Solar cells on the roof,
. . . . . . charge it from the grid,
. . . it is self-balancing and
. . . can spin 360 degrees in it's own foot-print.

National Lab 'Flips Switch' on East Coa...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 02:33:00 +0000

The Energy Department’s Brookhaven National Laboratory
. . . “flipped the switch” on the largest solar photovoltaic array
. . . in the eastern United States.
The 164,312 solar panels hosted at the Lab in New York State
. . . one of the largest solar farms built on federal property in the nation
. . . will produce enough energy to power up to 4,500 homes.
It boasts the smallest carbon footprint of any solar array with its amount of output.

Source: energy.gov

The next generation MUV(multipurpose utility ve...

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 23:27:43 +0000

Tata to launch the new model of tata nano(pixel) in 2012.

Source: Pixel

Is a 'nudge' in the right direction all...

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 19:22:43 +0000

"Nudging" is a way of influencing behavior without using force or incentives.

The whole idea is that we don't force anyone to do anything
. . . it's about helping people make the right choices to reach their own objectives.

. . . "Click" on source below, to see more "Green Nudging."

Source: cnn

Redesign Health Care

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 19:01:21 +0000

How cost savings and greater efficiency could be achieved through clever design.
1) Nothing touches the floor (Efficient Cleaning)
2) Privacy in every space, for every patient
3) Cheap doesn't mean poor quality
4) Speed (Improve patient turnaround)
5) Better Information Systems to reassure patient and families
6) Reduce the amount of work for people in the system
7) Smarter, more multifunctional use of space
8) At home in Hospital (Self-funding entertainment)
9) Can't they just be nicer to look at (aesthetics in the therapeutic environment)

Source: The-Health-Manifesto2.pdf

heat exchanger 40 times more efficient than the...

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 10:38:05 +0000

Used in large-scale commercial settings such as
. . . . . . refrigeration systems,
. . . . . .power plants and
. . . . . .petroleum refineries,
. . . heat exchangers are massive machines
. . . that transfer heat from one medium to another
. . . in order to regulate the temperature of industrial processes.

Because of the massive scale,
. . . this heat transfer results in enormous energy demands and
. . . huge drains on environmental resources.

With the collaboration of PhD student and doctoral fellow Mohammed Fayed,
. . . Vatistas realized that swirling flow could dramatically increase heat transfer exchange
. . . and reengineered heat exchangers to produce a prototype that is
. . . 40 times more efficient than the traditional model.
This represents enormous energy savings, lower operating costs and
. . . far-reaching industrial implications.

Source: eurekalert

European carmakers: Too many cars, Too few buyers

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 09:57:30 +0000

Europe’s volume (non-premium—carmakers) are in trouble.
. . . France’s Peugeot-Citroën,
. . . Italy’s Fiat and Opel-Vauxhall
. . . . . . (the European arm of GM, America’s biggest carmaker)
. . . have all seen their European sales fall.

To sell their cars,
. . . they have to offer discounts up to 20%-30% off the list price. Britain’s car market also shrank, by more than 4%.

Source: economist

Are "GREEN" countries the Happiest Coun...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:35:08 +0000

Some countries are significantly happier than others. Indonesia, Mexico, and Brazil lead the pack in happiness, while Russia, South Korea, and Hungary are all pretty miserable (see the chart). There are other factors as well: People who are under 25 are most likely to say they’re "very happy"; Latin American countries as a whole have the most "very happy" people; and people with high income and extensive education are also most likely to report being "very happy."

World events certainly play a part in happiness, but they don’t mean everything either. Japan’s rate of "very happy" citizens climbed six points between 2007 and November 2011--meaning residents as a whole were happier after the Fukushima disaster than before.

Income isn’t everything either. As Richard Heinberg notes in his book The Politics of Happiness: What Government Can Learn from the New Research on Well-Being, the percentage of Americans describing themselves as either “very happy” or “pretty happy” (in different studies) peaked in the 1950s, even though per capita income has ballooned since then.

Source: fastcoexist

$720.- house, can be built in a week

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:47:04 +0000

The Indian company that launched the world's cheapest car
. . . has unveiled its latest product for the fast-growing nation:
. . . a flat-pack house that costs just $700 and can be built in a week.

Tata group, maker of the $2,500 Nano car,
. . . said that the 20-square-metre (215-square-foot) home
. . . comes from a pre-fabricated kit that includes doors, windows and a roof.

"We have already prepared 2-3 different designs
. . . based on discussions with users and are gathering more feedback,"
. . . Sumitesh Das, the head of the project at Tata, told reporters
. . . in Hyderabad on Friday.

"Hopefully, in the next 6-8 months we should be able
. . . to roll it out in the market nationally."

The basic model of a so-called "Nano" house
. . . will cost 32,000 rupees ($720) and
. . . will use coconut fibre or jute for wall cladding and interiors.
. . . It has a life expectancy of 20 years.

The house, which is being tested in the state of West Bengal,
. . . will also be available in a larger 30-square-metre version and
. . . with additional features such as a solar panel for the roof and
. . . a verandah.

Source: indiatimes

Do you OWN stuff . . . Or does stuff . . . OWN...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:53:33 +0000

Benefits of a Minimalist Home:

Less stressful. Clutter is a form of visual distraction, and everything in our vision pulls at our attention at least a little. The less clutter, the less visual stress we have. A minimalist home is calming.
More appealing. Think about photos of homes that are cluttered, and photos of minimalist homes. The ones with almost nothing in them except some beautiful furniture, some nice artwork, and a very few pretty decorations, are the ones that appeal to most of us. You can make your home more appealing by making it more minimalist.
Easier to clean. It’s hard to clean a whole bunch of objects, or to sweep or vacuum around a bunch of furniture. The more stuff you have, the more you have to keep clean, and the more complicated it is to clean around the stuff. Think about how easy it is to clean an empty room compared to one with 50 objects in it. That’s an extreme example, of course, as I wouldn’t recommend you have an empty room, but it’s just to illustrate the difference.

What a Minimalist Home Looks Like
This would vary, of course, depending on your taste and how extreme of a minimalist you want to be. I am a minimalist, but not to any extreme.
But here are some characteristics of a minimalist home:

Minimal furniture. A minimalist room would only contain a few essential pieces of furniture. A living room, for example, might only have a couch, another chair or love seat, a coffee table, a minimalist entertainment stand (not a huge one with a bunch of shelves), a television, and a couple of lamps. It could even contain less (couch, chairs, and coffee table, for example). A bedroom might have a simple bed (or even just a mattress), a dresser, and perhaps a night stand or book shelf.
Clear surfaces. In a minimalist home, flat surfaces are clear, except for one or two decorations (see next item). There are not a whole bunch of knick knacks, and definitely not stacks of books or papers or other items.
Accent decorations. A home completely clear of things would be a bit boring, actually. So instead of having a coffee table completely free of any objects, you could have a simple vase with a few flowers, for example. Or a clear desk might just have a family photo. An otherwise empty wall might have a tasteful piece of art (I use my dad’s artwork, as he’s a great artist).
Quality over quantity. Instead of having a lot of stuff in your home, a minimalist would choose just a few really good things he loves and uses often. A really nice table, for example, is better than 5 pieces of press-board furniture.
Examples. See more photos of that lovely home. Traditional-style Japanese homes are another great example of minimalism, as isthis nice spread.

How to Create a Minimalist Home
There are actually no set steps to making your home minimalist, except to change your philosophy and shoot for the ideals in the previous section above. But here are some tips that I would offer to anyone trying to shoot for minimalism:

One room at a time. Unless you’re just moving into a place, it’s hard to simplify an entire house at once. Focus on one room, and let that be your center of calm. Use it to inspire you to simplify the next room, and the next. Then do the same outside!
Start with furniture. The biggest things in any room are the furniture, so you should always begin simplifying a room by looking at the furniture. The fewer pieces of furniture, the better (within reason, of course). Think of which furniture can be eliminated without sacrificing comfort and livability. Go for a few pieces of plain, simple furniture (example of a minimalist coffee table) with solid, subdued colors.
Only the essentials. Whether looking at your furniture or anything else in the room, ask yourself if the item is truly essential. If you can live without it, get it out. Try to strip the room down to its essentials — you can always add a few choice items beyond the essentials later.
Clear floors. Except for the furniture, your floors should be completely clear. Nothing should clutter the floor, nothing should be stacked, nothing should be stored on the floor. Once you’ve gotten your furniture down to the bare essentials, clear everything else on the floor — either donate it, trash it, or find a place for it out of sight.
Clear surfaces. Same thing with all flat surfaces. Don’t have anything on them, except one or two simple decorations (See Tip 9 below). Donate, trash or find an out-of-sight storage spot for everything else. It will make everything much, much more minimal-looking.
Clear walls. Some people hang all kinds of stuff on their walls. No can do in a minimalist home. Clear your walls except for one or two simple pieces of nice artwork (see Tip 8 below).
Store stuff out of sight. This has been mentioned in the above tips, but you should store everything you need out of sight, in drawers and cabinets. Bookshelves can be used to store books or DVDs or CDs, but shouldn’t have much else except a few simple decorations (not whole collections of things).
Declutter. If you are clearing flat surfaces and the floor, and storing stuff in cabinets and drawers, you’ll probably want to declutter your storage areas too. You can do this in a later stage if you want. See How to Declutter for more.
Simple artwork. To keep a room from being boring, you can put a simple painting, drawing or photo, framed with a subdued, solid color, on each wall if you want. Leave some walls bare if possible.
Simple decorations. As mentioned in the above tips, one or two simple decorations can serve as accents for a minimalist room. A vase of flowers or a small potted plant are two classic examples. If the rest of your room has subdued colors, your accents could use a bright color (such as red, or yellow) to draw the eye and give a plain room a splash of energy.
Plain window treatments. Bare windows, or simple, solid colored curtains, or simple, wooden blinds are good. Too much ornate stuff around the windows is clutter.
Plain patterns. Solid colors are best for floor coverings (if you have any), furniture, etc. Complex patterns, such as flowers or checkers, are visual clutter.
Subdued colors. As mentioned in Tip 9 above, you can have a splash of bright color in the room, but most of the room should be more subtle colors – white is classic minimalist, but really any solid colors that don’t stress the eyes is good (earth colors come to mind, such as blues, browns, tans, greens).
Edit and eliminate. When you’ve simplified a room, you can probably do more. Give it a couple of days, then look at everything with a fresh eye. What can be eliminated? Stored out of sight? What’s not essential? You can come back to each room every few months, and sometimes you’ll discover things you can simplify even more.
Place for everything. I’ve discussed this in other posts, but in a minimalist house, it’s important that you find a place for everything, and remember where those places are. Where does you blender go? Give it a spot, and stick with it. Aim for logical spots that are close to where the thing is used, to make things more efficient, but the key is to designate a spot.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy. Once you’ve simplified a room, take a moment to look around and enjoy it. It’s so peaceful and satisfying. This is the reward for your hard work. Ahhhh. So nice!

Source: zenhabits

What Happens When Solar Power Is as Cheap as Coal?

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:53:19 +0000

Solar panel installations are expected to double in the next 2 years.

It's not people putting them on their houses driving most of that change,
. . . it's large scale installations.

You're not going to notice the change, and that's good:
. . . No one will have to do anything to get clean solar power.
. . . It's just going to come from the same place as your old dirty power.

Currently, coal costs about 7 cents a watt,
. . . versus 22 cents for solar.
But the solar industry is moving so fast that those costs will be equal
. . . at least for utilities--by 2013.
In sunny places like California, it's already much closer during peak hours,
. . . when the sun is shining and coal power becomes more expensive.

Source: fastcoexist